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Saturday, January 31, 2009

As soon as I saw this sewing set by Gail Pan I fell in love with it. I think it was specially designed for a gathering of Australian Quilters/stitchers and at first only available to them. As soon as it was available I sent off to Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop for the pattern.

The set is a drawstring bag, pincushion, needlebook and scissor fob.I was taken with the unusual square shape of the bag. It was a little tricky to get the base sewn in but otherwise straightforward to make.I did take a picture of the inside of the needlebook but it seems to have disappeared in my PC somewhere!If you would like to see a close up of the sewing set you can click on the pictures for a better view.

A couple of other small finishes are a Lizzie Kate design that I finished as a small hanging pillow

I bought this design on eBay years ago as just the chart from a kit and it has taken me this long to put the last few stitches in. It turned out cute so I don't know why I didn't finish it sooner.

Finally, one of Tanya's (The Sampler Girl) lovely designs Hope Perches.I used Vikki Clayton's silk threads for the design area and silk duponi for the pillow.

Things I'm working on now are my long neglected Beatrix Potter Sampler and I will soon be starting a SAL with a few friends for Blackbird Designs Sarah Tobias Needleroll.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today and for your nice comments. I enjoy hearing from you :)

Friday, January 23, 2009

Just a quick post to show off some of the stitched gifts I've received over the last few week.I just love little things and all of these are so tiny.First up is a pinkeep from Brigitte in Germany. Brigitte stitched a Prairie Schooler design with the letter M. Isn't it lovely?

I was blown away when I received this tiny little pinbox from Francoise (no blog)Francoise has stitched Blackbird Designs Buttons and Blooms over one and fitted it into the lid of a box of pearl head pins. Everything about this is so dainty. I love it.

Finally, Sandra in UK stitched this gorgeous strawberry scissor fob for me. Click on the picture for a close up of the stitching and finishing. It's so beautifully done.Sandra doesn't have a blog but she if you want to see some gorgeous stitching and finishing you can visit her Picasa albums.

I've just remembered a few things I stitched as Christmas gifts but forgot to show here. Some of you may already have seen them on Nancy's blog but for anyone that hasn't seen them here's a pinkeep I made using a chart from a German booklet I have called Kreuzstichmuster. This is the front of the pinkeep

and here's the back view. The initial comes from the same pattern book

This is a set of needlework smalls that I stitched using a chart from Theron Traditions - Stray Pins and Moms Scissors. I was getting a little tired of the design after stitching it three times (once over one for the fob) and the border yet a fourth time for the back of the needlebook!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

I took part in quite a few exchanges both stitched and quilted in 2008.The last exchange being a Secret Santa with a Yahoo stitching group.I had one fat quarter of Nells Flower Shop sampler print (Blackbird Designs for Moda) and one fat quarter of a plaid print from the Blackbird Designs Madeira range.It was a bit of a squeeze but I managed to get this drawstring bag, a long pincushion and a little fob out of the fabric. The stitched motifs on the pincushion and fob are taken from The Blackbird Designs Sarah Tobias book. Here's a view of the front......

and this is the back of the pincushion and fob

My exchange partner, Roberta, sent me two packages. One for the exchange and the other for my birthday a week later.

The focus piece is a sweet little sewing bag with a beautifully stitched snowman on the front and several matching accessories using the same fabrics to go with it.A gorgeous round pinkeep, a little humbug shaped bourse, a collapsible ORT bag, tiny felt pincushion, stork scissors with a tape measure fob, a matching thread waxer and yet another thread waxer in the shape of an acorn.

Another birthday gift is this lovely blackwork pinkeep from Hazel (no blog) which she stitched in red, a lovely hand made card, some water colour gift tags and a dinky little spatula. It took me a little while to figure out what the spatula might be used for until I realised Hazel had intended it for use as a hornbook. All it needs is a hole drilled in the top, a tiny over one stitched design and voila! a mini hornbook :)

I still have more pictures to share but the digital camera seems to have fallen out with the PC so hopefully I'll be able to figure it out and show them next time.Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

It's been a whole month since my last post - where did the time go?In the run up to Christmas I had absolutely nothing that could be shown on my blog and now it seems I have too much so I'll be sharing the pictures over the next couple of weeks or so.Yesterday I received my Secret Santa package from Australia. Yes, it arrived a bit late but I understand it was returned to sender the first time around. However, this package was well worth the wait as I'm sure you'll agree.My Secret Santa was Jo andjust look at the gorgeous wall hanging she made for me

I'm absolutely thrilled with this because the fabrics are in my favourite country style colours, it has hand applique (my favourite technique) and just check out those rusty bells! There are three oversized ones on the bottom of the wall hanging and each applique circle has a smaller bell attached. It makes such a happy sound when you shake it :)Jo also sent me an Australian Country Threads magazine. It's my all time favourite magazine but they are like gold dust here and simply not available so she couldn't have sent me anything that would please me more.

Thanks so much for a great swap experience Jo and thanks to Donna AKA Chookyblue who was brave enough to organize this mammoth exchange for the second year running. Can you imagine trying to pair up 156 Secret Santa's? If you want to see all of the wonderful gifts that were exchanged you can see them on Donna's blog.

So what did I send to my exchange partner? I made this little Cinderberry Stitches wall hanging using fabrics from the Moda Peace on Earth line

Here's the label I sewed on the back

and I also made a little notions holder and rotary cutter case from a pattern I found in a UK quilting magazine

Since this is a quilty type post rather than a cross stitch one I will also show a picture of a bag I made from a Prairie Paisley charm pack. I used the Charm Party Tote pattern from Quilts Illustrated but I added an extra row of charms to make a deeper bag

Yesterday was Three Kings Day here in Spain - the day where there are processions in every town to celebrate the arrival of the three wise men.We went to watch the procession so I'm leaving you with a few pictures taken while we were out and about.

Happy New Year to everyone. Wishing you a wonderful crafting year ahead!